Survival Rates for Gastrointestinal Carcinoid Tumors

Survival rates are often used by doctors as a standard way of discussing a person's prognosis (outlook). Some people with cancer may want to know the survival statistics for people in similar situations, while others may not find the numbers helpful, or may even not want to know them. Stop reading here and go to another section if you decide that you do not want to know them.

The 5-year survival rate refers to the percentage of patients who live at least 5 years after their cancer is diagnosed. Of course, many people live much longer than 5 years (and many are cured). Also, people who have this cancer can die from something else. These survival rates, called observed survival rates, do not take this into account.

To get 5-year survival rates, doctors have to look at people who were treated at least 5 years ago. Improvements in treatment since then may result in a better outlook for people now being diagnosed with carcinoid tumors.

Survival rates are often based on previous outcomes of large numbers of people who had the disease, but they can’t predict what will happen in any particular person’s case. Many other factors can affect a person’s outlook, such as treatment received, the grade of the tumor and its growth rate, and the patient’s age and health. Your doctor can tell you how the numbers below may apply to you, as he or she is familiar with your situation.

Most GI carcinoid tumors are found while they are still localized, but this varies based on the organ they start in. Tumors of the stomach, duodenum (the first part of the small intestine), appendix, and rectum are likely to be found before they have spread. In contrast, many tumors of other parts of the small intestine (the jejunum/ileum) and the colon (including the cecum) have already spread to nearby tissues or lymph nodes or to distant sites when they are first diagnosed.

The following 5-year survival rates are based on people diagnosed with carcinoid (well and moderately-differentiated neuroendocrine tumors) between 1988 and 2004:

5-year observed survival rates for carcinoid tumors

Site

Localized

Regional

Distant

Stomach

73%

65%

25%

Duodenum

68%

55%

46%

Jejunum/ileum

65%

71%*

54%

Cecum

68%

71%*

54%

Appendix

88%

78%

25%

Colon

85%

46%

14%

Rectum

90%

62%

24%

*The 5-year survival for these tumors at the regional stage is slightly better than for the localized stage, although the reason for this is not exactly clear.